How to Save Metadata to File and view epub to match index?

[haz1919]

Hello Group,

Hopefully I succinctly worded my two questions in the title of this thread, but, if not, here is a little more detail?

(1) I am using a secondary program called "Clearview" for mac and it seems to read metadata from the file. My understanding is calibre saves the metadata info you save to a separate file that saves within the folder where the ebook is located. Is there any way in Calibre, either natively or with a plug-in to save the metadata to the file. I have worked very hard in my Cailbre library to download all of the correct Metadata and it would be great for that metadata to follow each ebook.

(2) I'm wondering how to view an ePub file so that the index in the back of the ebook matches the book. I don't know if this is a common problem with the epub format, but, very few books seem to link the index to the page number, so if I want to do it manually, I am having difficultly. I'm not sure if you have any tips?

Thank you in advance,

Haz

[jackie_w]

Re: item 1 - calibre has a couple of features which may be of use to you depending on what format your books are:
- Embed Metadata into book files
- Polish books (epub, azw3/kf8 only)

I don't think either of them are on your menu/toolbar by default so you may need to go to Preferences - Toolbars to add them to whichever menu/toolbar is most convenient for you

[eschwartz]

1) calibre does not automatically update the metadata inside the library copies of the book. It will however (by default) update the copies transferred via Send-to-Device, Send-to-Email, and Save-to-Disk.

You can also use the UI tool "Embed Metadata" or Polish Book" (the latter does more, but only works on EPUB/AZW3) to explicitly update the metadata in the in-library copies.

You may need to add it/them to your toolbar from Preferences ==> Toolbar.

2) Not happening. Page numbers are a legacy of paper books (and IMHO should go the way of the dodo, except re: academic citation and even then you have alternatives), and they require a publisher-generated Page-map or PageList to provide page numbers for the ebook edition.
Even then, it takes way too much valuable employee time to painstakingly match a concordance with the right page numbers.
Or hyperlinked locations. Which also takes a lot of time, but at least doesn't require a Page-map/PageList first.

This is not something you want to invest the elbow grease in doing yourself. Though some of the professional ebook producers who hang out here (e.g. @Hitch) will do it for you (and charge a pretty penny).

[haz1919]

Thank you both for the quick and informative replies.

(1) I will look into adding both the embed metadata and polish functions onto my toolbar. Thanks for the tip.

(2) As a little bit of a background. I am doing a lot of studying with textbooks and other books. Most are in either PDF or Epub formats. If I am looking up a topic in the index, it is frustrating trying to find it in the body when the page numbers don't correspond. I, of course, try to use the search tool first, but, that is hit and miss.

I guess I'm just surprised that when I select "Actual Size"under the view tab of my favorite ebook reading software the document isn't the same size at the published book, therefore, the pages numbers in the index will correspond natively. I completely understand how much a pain in the butt it would be to do manually, but, if it has already been done for the hard copy of the book, just, publish the epub in an actual size that will match the hard copy. Maybe I am oversimplifying and pubs freedom create too many variables (margin size, font, font size, etc.), but, this isn't a rocket science problem and it seems like there should be an option to "view as published" or "view as author intended". Some book novels include pictures on the right hand side of the page, I wonder how authors file about those types of books in pub format.

I know an ePub books are superior in format and technology in many different ways, including how you want to view it, the font, size, taking notes and highlighting without ruining the book, etc., but, this just seems odd to me.

Other than a "view as published or "view as author intended" mode, the other option would be a computer program or algorithm that would adjust the size of the page based on the index and the search function. For example, if the word "Apples" is included in the index on pages, 50, 100 and 150, the algorithm would attempt to adjust the page size to make sure apple is on those 3 pages and then could move onto the next word. It might not be perfect, but, I'm sure it could get pretty close and avoid a lot of brain damage. Just my 2 cents and look forward to your thoughts and response.

Best Regards,

Haz

[eschwartz]

The problem will always be "how much is a page"?

EPUB is a reflowable format, it doesn't comprehend "pages". PDF does have pages, but PDF is unpleasant for other reasons.


With a proper Page-map/PageList you can match the page numbers given in the index. But most EPUBs don't have them. Amazon Kindle books usually do have Real Page Numbers though.
Of course the proper solution is to create linked references, taking advantage of the advantages of a reflowable electronic format. But all too often publishers won't bother with that either.


Most of the attention around ebooks has been in the novels department.
Textbooks are still an unoptimized mess, where few actually bother to be well-formed and really take advantage of the technology.